Art Auction & Book Talk: EX CRUCIBLE by Peter Merts

Prison Arts Collective will have an art auction and Peter Merts will speak on EX CRUCIBLE: THE PASSION OF INCARCERATED ARTISTS. The photographs of Ex Crucible show incarcerated men and women creating artworks with a talent, passion, and authenticity that illuminate the humanity of the artists.

These intimate photographs demonstrate the importance that creativity can have in these bleak, controlled spaces. Peter Merts has been a photographer for 40 years, focusing on documentary, portrait, and fine arts projects. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Economist, Newsweek Online, the LosAngeles Review of Books, Grazia (France), Pozytyw (Poland), The Buenos Aires Herald (Argentina),La Fotografia Actual (Spain), The Independent (UK), and Geo Saisson (Germany).

For the past 15 years, Peter has documented California’s Arts in Corrections program in all 36 of California’s adult state prisons, and serves on the advisory board of the Prison Arts Collective, a provider of prison arts programming. Peter co-published, with Dr. Larry Brewster, the book Paths of Discovery: Art Practice and Its Impact in California State Prisons (now in its 2nd edition); in 2022, he published a monograph of his prison arts work, Ex Crucible: The Passion of Incarcerated Artists (Daylight Books).

Kicked off by a performance by the SDSU Diamonds, special guest attendees who were honored in the mural included Amber St. James, Joseph Johnson, Harold K. Brown and Francis Miles (representing her late husband Walter Miles). Speakers included Vice President for Student Affairs and Campus Diversity J. Luke Wood, librarian Gloria Rhodes, Associate Chief Diversity Officer Nicole Belisle, professor of Anthropology Seth Mallios and others. When given the chance to speak on their work, the artists spoke on their collaboration process, the meaning behind the colors chosen for the piece and the elements contained within the mural. Following the unveiling, attendees were invited to a reception in the library for mingling and conversation.